Content extracting device, content extracting method and program

ABSTRACT

An information processing apparatus that obtains intimacy degree information corresponding to identification information of a first person, specifies an extraction period based on the intimacy degree information, and extracts content in the extraction period.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of and is based upon and claims thebenefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 for U.S. Ser. No. 14/469,172,filed Aug. 26, 2014 and is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 13/486,459,filed Jun. 1, 2012 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,885,892), and claims the benefitof priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Japanese Priority Patent ApplicationJP 2011-131129 filed in the Japan Patent Office on Jun. 13, 2011, theentire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to a content extracting device, a contentextracting method and a program.

In recent years, the number of digital contents owned by a user hasincreased along with wide use of digital cameras and a higher capacityof a memory storing digital data therein. A user has confirmed andselected each content in order to extract and reproduce a desiredcontent.

On the other hand, there has been proposed a method for automaticallyextracting a content based on a content analysis result. For example,Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-81021 proposes therein anelectronic album displaying system capable of calculating an intimacydegree of objects on an album basis and extracting a photograph when anintimacy degree with a designated object is equal to or more than apredetermined threshold, assuming that a smaller number of objects inone photograph have a higher intimacy degree of the objects.

SUMMARY

However, an importance degree for content is different per user viewingthe content. Thus, there is demanded a technique capable of extracting acontent having a high importance degree for the user. Thus, the presentdisclosure proposes a novel and improved content extracting device,content extracting method and program capable of extracting a contenthaving a high importance degree for a designated user.

An information processing apparatus that obtains intimacy degreeinformation corresponding to identification information of a firstperson, specifies an extraction period based on the intimacy degreeinformation, and extracts content in the extraction period.

An information processing method performed by an information processingapparatus, the method comprising: obtaining, by a processor of theinformation processing apparatus, intimacy degree informationcorresponding to identification information of a person; specifying, bythe processor, an extraction period based on the intimacy degreeinformation; and extracting, by the processor, content in the extractionperiod.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer programcode, which when executed by an information processing apparatus, causesthe information processing apparatus to perform a method comprising:obtaining intimacy degree information corresponding to identificationinformation of a person; specifying an extraction period based on theintimacy degree information; and extracting content in the extractionperiod.

According to the present disclosure described above, it is possible toextract a content having a high importance degree for a user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of a content extracting system accordingto a first embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an explanation diagram showing exemplary content informationused in the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an explanation diagram showing exemplary face thumbnailinformation extracted from a content according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an explanation diagram showing exemplary person informationused in the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is an explanation diagram showing an exemplary transition of anintimacy degree used in the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a table showing exemplary intimacy degree information used inthe first embodiment;

FIG. 7 is an explanation diagram schematically showing an exemplarycalculation of the intimacy degree information used in the firstembodiment;

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary intimacy degree conversion table used in thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an exemplary content extracting operationaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a structural diagram of a content extracting system accordingto a second embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a table showing exemplary event information used in thesecond embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a table showing exemplary event importance degree informationused in the second embodiment;

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing an exemplarycalculation of an event importance degree used in the second embodiment;

FIG. 14 shows an exemplary event importance degree conversion table usedin the second embodiment;

FIG. 15 shows another exemplary event importance degree conversion tableused in the second embodiment;

FIG. 16 shows still another exemplary event importance degree conversiontable used in the second embodiment; and

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an exemplary content extracting operationaccording to the second embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed in detail with reference to the appended drawings. Note that,in this specification and the appended drawings, structural elementsthat have substantially the same function and structure are denoted withthe same reference numerals, and repeated explanation of thesestructural elements is omitted.

The explanation will be made in the following order.

1. First embodiment (example of extracting content based on intimacydegree)

-   -   1-1. Structure    -   1-2. Exemplary intimacy degree calculation    -   1-3. Exemplary content extracting operation

2. Second embodiment (example of extracting content based on eventimportance degree)

-   -   2-1. Structure    -   2-2. Exemplary event importance degree calculation    -   2-3. Exemplary content extracting operation

1. First Embodiment

[1-1. Structure]

A structure of a content extracting system 10 according to a firstembodiment of the present disclosure will be first described withreference to FIGS. 1 to 8. FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of the contentextracting system according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing exemplary contentinformation used in the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is an explanatorydiagram showing exemplary face thumbnail information extracted from acontent according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is an explanatorydiagram showing exemplary person information used in the firstembodiment. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an exemplarytransition of an intimacy degree used in the first embodiment. FIG. 6 isa table showing exemplary intimacy degree information used in the firstembodiment. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing anexemplary calculation of the intimacy degree information used in thefirst embodiment. FIG. 8 shows an exemplary intimacy degree conversiontable used in the first embodiment.

The content extracting system 10 according to the present embodimentmainly includes a content extracting device 100 a, an intimacy degreecalculating unit 200, an image analyzing unit 300, an intimacy degreestoring unit 11, a person storing unit 13, a content storing unit 15 anda SNS information database 50. The SNS is an abbreviation of SocialNetwork Service, and means a service for constructing a social networkover the Internet.

The functions of the content extracting device 100 a, the intimacydegree calculating unit 200, the image analyzing unit 300, the intimacydegree storing unit 11, the person storing unit 13, the content storingunit 15 and the SNS information database 50 may be mounted on anyhardware for enabling information to be exchanged via a network. Aprocessing implemented by one function unit may be achieved by singlehardware or may be achieved by multiple hardware in a distributedmanner.

Generation of person information and an intimacy degree used forextracting a content by the content extracting device 100 a will bedescribed herein. The person information generated by the imageanalyzing unit 300 from content information stored in the contentstoring unit 15 will be first described.

(Generation of Person Information)

The content storing unit 15 stores content information as shown in FIG.2 therein, for example. The content storing unit 15 is a data storingdevice, and may be online storage, a hard disc drive of a local personalcomputer (PC), a file server or a removable memory, for example. Thecontent information may be an image file added with metadata, forexample. The image analyzing unit 300 analyzes the content informationto generate person information. For example, the image analyzing unit300 first uses a face detecting technique thereby to extract a face areain an image. The image analyzing unit 300 may output the position ofeach object's face detected from an image to be processed as an XYcoordinate value in the image, for example. The image analyzing unit 300may output a size (width and height) of the detected face and a postureof the detected face. The face area extracted by the image analyzingunit 300 may be stored as an additional thumbnail image file in whichonly the face area is cut out, for example. For example, FIG. 3 showsexemplary face thumbnail image information in which the extracted facearea is stored as an additional thumbnail file.

The image analyzing unit 300 may analyze the extracted face thumbnailimage thereby to extract attribute information of each face thumbnailimage. The attribute information may include smile degree, sex and age,for example. The image analyzing unit 300 may collect the persons whoseem the same in one person ID. At this time, the image analyzing unit300 may use a face clustering technique. For example, the imageanalyzing unit 300 may analyze a similarity of multiple face thumbnailimages thereby to consolidate the persons who seem to be the same withsingle person ID.

The person information generated by the above processings may be storedin the person storing unit 13. The person storing unit 13 may be adatabase using relational database (RDB), for example. Alternatively,the person storing unit 13 may be a file system. FIG. 4 shows exemplaryperson information stored in the person storing unit 13. The personinformation may include information such as person ID, face thumbnail,extraction source content, smile degree and face orientation. Though notshown, the person information may include attribute information (such assex and age) other than smile degree and face orientation. The smiledegree used here is indicated by a number between 0 and 100, forexample, and a larger number indicates a higher degree of smile.

(Exemplary Intimacy Degree Calculation)

An exemplary intimacy degree calculation by the intimacy degreecalculating unit 200 will be described below. The intimacy degreecalculating unit 200 may calculate an intimacy degree based on theperson information stored in the person storing unit 13 and the SNSinformation stored in the SNS information database 50.

SNS is a community member service for supporting a relationship betweenpersons, for example. Typical SNS is a service to provide a place wherea user registers his/her own profile and communicates other users havinga common relationship. In the present embodiment, SNS may include a blogservice having a communication function (such as comment posting, e-mailtransmission) with other users. The blog service may include a mini-blogservice for posting a text with a limited number of characters.Alternatively, the SNS according to the present embodiment may include acommunity service using videos such as photographs and animations as amain communication tool.

The intimacy degree calculating unit 200 may use published WebApplication Program Interface (API) of the SNS thereby to obtain SNSinformation of SNS users. The SNS information obtainable by the intimacydegree calculating unit 200 is different depending on a SNSspecification or user's disclosure setting. For example, the SNSinformation may be classified into fact-based registration informationwhich the user registers in SNS (such as name, date of birth, familystructure and friend information) and usage history informationgenerated by the use of the SNS (such as contact history with otherusers and e-mail transmission history).

The intimacy degree calculating unit 200 may calculate an intimacydegree between persons based on the person information stored in theperson storing unit 13. The intimacy degree calculating unit 200 mayfurther use the SNS information to calculate an intimacy degree. Inrecent years, a community service such as SNS has appeared overInternet, and thus a form of communication made without seeing in facehas been established. Thereby, if the user is communicating on SNS witha person whom the user has not met for a long time, the user may feel sointimate. The intimacy degree calculating unit 200 may use the SNSinformation to calculate an intimacy degree based on such communicationover Internet.

The intimacy degree calculating unit 200 may calculate an intimacydegree between persons. For example, an intimacy degree of a personID002 for a person ID001 may have a different value from an intimacydegree of the person ID001 for the person ID002. A larger valueindicates a higher intimacy degree. The intimacy degree changes overtime as indicated in the graph of FIG. 5, for example. Thus, theintimacy degree is stored in the intimacy degree storing unit 11 inassociation with a calculation period. The intimacy degree calculatingunit 200 may calculate an intimacy degree per time cluster collected bytime clustering, for example. Alternatively, the intimacy degreecalculating unit 200 may calculate an intimacy degree per predeterminedperiod (such as per year).

The intimacy degree storing unit 11 may be a database using RDB, forexample. Alternatively, the intimacy degree storing unit 11 may be afile system. FIG. 6 shows exemplary intimacy degree information storedin the intimacy degree storing unit 11. The intimacy degree informationis associated with person ID, target person ID, intimacy degree, starttime/date and end time/date, for example. With reference to the intimacydegree information of FIG. 6, the intimacy degree of ID002 for theperson ID001 is found to be 40 from Jan. 1, 2011 to Feb. 3, 2011, and isfound to be 60 from Feb. 4, 2011 to Mar. 31, 2011.

The exemplary intimacy degree calculation will be specifically describedwith reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. An example in which the intimacy degreeof the person ID002 viewed from the person ID001 is calculated will bedescribed herein. Herein, intimacy degrees calculated from six aspectsand normalized values are added to be the intimacy degree between theperson ID001 and the person ID002. The intimacy degree is calculated perpredetermined period.

For example, the intimacy degree calculating unit 200 may use the personinformation stored in the person storing unit 13 to assume a valueobtained by normalizing an appearance frequency of the person ID002 inthe image as intimacy degree 1. When a plurality of persons are presentin the same location, the higher the intimacy degree between persons is,the more the persons are likely to be viewed as objects of a contentsuch as photograph or animation. Therefore, the intimacy degree 1 may belarger when the ratio of the person ID002 appearing among total contentsshot in a predetermined calculation period as an object is higher.

The intimacy degree calculating unit 200 may use the person informationstored in the person storing unit 13 to assume a value obtained bynormalizing an appearance frequency of the person ID001 and the personID002 in the same content as intimacy degree 2. When a plurality ofpersons are present in the same location, the higher the intimacy degreebetween persons is, the more the persons are likely to be viewedtogether in a photograph or animation. Therefore, the intimacy degree 2may be larger when the ratio that the person ID001 and the person ID002are contained as objects in the same content among total contents shotin a predetermined intimacy degree calculation period is higher, forexample.

The intimacy degree calculating unit 200 may use the person informationstored in the person storing unit 13 to calculate intimacy degree 3based on the smile degree and the face orientation of the person ID001and the person ID002. The higher the intimacy degree between the personID001 and the person ID002 is, the higher the smile degree is assumedwhen the two are together. Therefore, the intimacy degree 3 may belarger as the smile degree of the person ID001 and the person ID002 ishigher. The higher the intimacy degree between the person ID001 and theperson ID002 is, the more the two persons are assumed to face each otherwhen they are together. Thus, the intimacy degree 3 may be larger as theperson ID001 and the person ID002 are highly likely to face each other.

The intimacy degree calculating unit 200 may use the person informationstored in the person storing unit 13 to calculate intimacy degree 4based on a distance between the person ID001 and the person ID002 in theimage. A person has his/her own personal space. The personal space is aphysical distance to a communicating party. The distance is individuallydifferent, and is near as the relationship with the party is closer,that is as the intimacy degree is larger. Therefore, the intimacy degree4 may be larger as the physical distance between the person ID001 andthe person ID002 in the image is shorter.

The intimacy degree calculating unit 200 may use the SNS informationstored in the SNS information database 50 to calculate intimacy degree 5based on the number of contacts made in a predetermined period betweenthe person ID001 and the person ID002 on the SNS. For example, thenumber of contacts may be a total value of the number of e-mailexchanged between the person ID001 and the person ID002 and the numberof postings from the person ID001 to the person ID002.

The intimacy degree calculating unit 200 may calculate intimacy degree 6based on a relationship between the person ID001 and the person ID002.The intimacy degree 6 may be calculated by using the SNS informationstored in the SNS information database 50, for example. For example, theintimacy degree calculating unit 200 may extract a relationship betweenthe person ID001 and the person ID002 from the SNS registrationinformation. For example, when there is obtained information indicatingthat the person ID001 and the person ID002 are spouses, the intimacydegree calculating unit 200 may then refer to an intimacy degreeconversion table 21. FIG. 8 shows an exemplary intimacy degreeconversion table 21, for example. The intimacy degree conversion table21 indicates a relationship between persons and a correspondence with anintimacy degree addition rate, for example. When the person ID001 andthe person ID002 are spouses as described above, the intimacy degreeaddition rate is high according to the intimacy degree conversion table21. Herein, the intimacy degree addition rate is indicated with high,middle and low, but may be indicated by a specific numerical value. Theintimacy degree calculating unit 200 may increase the value of theintimacy degree 6 based on the intimacy degree addition rate as theintimacy degree addition is larger.

The intimacy degree calculating unit 200 may then generate intimacydegree information by adding the normalized intimacy degree 1 tointimacy degree 6. The intimacy degree calculating unit 200 may weightand add the values of the intimacy degree 1 to the intimacy degree 6.

The person information and the intimacy degree information used in thepresent embodiment have been described above. The person informationgenerating method and the intimacy degree calculating method describedabove are exemplary and the present technique is not limited thereto.The person information and the intimacy degree information may begenerated by other various methods. Turning to FIG. 1 again, thestructure of the content extracting system 10 will be described further.

The content extracting device 100 a is an exemplary informationprocessing device having a function of extracting a content inassociation with a user from a plurality of contents. The extractedcontent may be an image content including a still image and animation,for example. The content extracting device 100 a may transmit theextracted content to a user terminal device, thereby providing thecontent to the user. Alternatively, the content extracting device 100 amay update access restriction information on the extracted content andpublish the extracted content to the designated user thereby to providethe content so that the user may view the extracted content.

The content extracting device 100 a mainly includes an extractioncondition obtaining unit 105, an intimacy degree information obtainingunit 110, an extraction period specifying unit 115, a content extractingunit 120 a and a content reproducing unit 125.

The extraction condition obtaining unit 105 has a function of obtaininga condition for extracting a content. The extraction condition mayinclude a person ID of a designated user, for example. The extractioncondition may also include the number of contents to be extracted. Forexample, the user may be input via an operation screen. For example, theextraction condition obtaining unit 105 may display a person included ina user's content with a thumbnail image or name, and provide a selectionscreen for selecting a person. The extraction condition obtaining unit105 may assume the person ID of a person selected on the selectionscreen as a person ID of a user designated as content-viewing user. Thedesignated user may be specified by analyzing the image. For example, aperson viewing the screen on which the extracted content is beingprovided analyzes the shown image and specifies a user, and may assumethe specified user as a designated user. The extraction conditionobtaining unit 105 may supply the obtained extraction condition to theintimacy degree information obtaining unit 110.

The intimacy degree information obtaining unit 110 has a function ofobtaining intimacy degree information of the user based on the person IDof the designated user contained in the content extraction conditionobtained by the extraction condition obtaining unit 105. The intimacydegree information obtaining unit 110 may supply the obtained intimacydegree information to the extraction period specifying unit 115. Theintimacy degree information obtained herein may be calculated based onthe analysis result of multiple contents as stated above. The intimacydegree information may be calculated based on the SNS registrationinformation of the designated user. The intimacy degree information maybe calculated based on information on the SNS usage history of thedesignated user. At this time, the information on the SNS usage historymay be the number of contacts made between designated users on SNS.

The extraction period specifying unit 115 has a function of specifyingan extraction period based on the intimacy degree information suppliedfrom the intimacy degree information obtaining unit 110. The extractionperiod specifying unit 115 may assume a period in which the intimacydegree between designated users is high as an extraction period. Theextraction period specifying unit 115 may supply the information on thespecified extraction period and the intimacy degree information suppliedfrom the intimacy degree information obtaining unit 110 to the contentextracting unit 120 a.

The content extracting unit 120 a has a function of extracting a contentin the extraction period specified by the extraction period specifyingunit 115. Therefore, the content extracting unit 120 a may extract thecontent in the period in which the intimacy degree between designatedusers is high. The content extracting unit 120 a may specify a thirdparty who has commonly high intimacy degree from the supplied intimacydegree information among the designated users, and may preferentiallyextract a content including the third party. With the structure, thereis extracted the content which is in the period in which the intimacydegree between the designated users is high and which includes a personwho has commonly high intimacy degree among the designated users.Therefore, a content in which a content-viewer is more interested isautomatically extracted. The content extracting unit 120 a may extractand output the extracted content, for example. Alternatively, thecontent extracting unit 120 a may output a list of extracted contents,for example.

The content reproducing unit 125 may reproduce the content extracted bythe content extracting unit 120 a based on the intimacy degreeinformation of the designated users. For example, the contentreproducing unit 125 may use an effect based on the intimacy degreeinformation of the designated users to reproduce the content. Forexample, the content reproducing unit 125 may reproduce the content bypanning or zooming the person having a high intimacy degree. Forexample, when a group photograph is reproduced, the photograph ispreferably reproduced while being subjected to the effect such that thefaces of a designated user and persons having a high intimacy degreewith the designated user are apparently shown. The content reproducingunit 125 is described as part of the content extracting device 100 a butthe present technique is not limited thereto. For example, the contentreproducing unit 125 may be separated from the content extracting device100 a.

The exemplary functions of the content extracting device 100 a, theintimacy degree calculating unit 200 and the image analyzing unit 300according to the present embodiment have been described above. Eachcomponent described above may be configured with a general-purposemember or circuit and may be configured in hardware specific to thefunction of each component. The function of each component may beimplemented by reading a control program from a storage medium such asread only memory (ROM) or random access memory (RAM) which storestherein the control program describing a processing procedure of acomputing device such as central processing unit (CPU) for realizing thefunction, and interpreting and executing the program. Thus, thestructure to be utilized may be changed as necessary depending on atechnical level at which the present embodiment is to be performed.

It is possible to create a computer program for realizing the functionsof the content extracting device 100 a, the intimacy degree calculatingunit 200 and the image analyzing unit 300 according to the presentembodiment as described above and to mount it on a personal computer orthe like. It is further possible to provide a computer-readablerecording medium storing the computer program therein. The recordingmedium is a magnetic disc, optical disc, magnetooptical disc, flashmemory or the like, for example. The computer program may be distributedvia a network, for example, not via a recording medium.

[1-2. Exemplary Content Extracting Operation]

An exemplary content extracting operation according to the firstembodiment of the present disclosure will be described below withreference to FIG. 9. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an exemplary contentextracting operation according to the first embodiment.

In the content extracting device 100 a, the extraction conditionobtaining unit 105 first obtains an extraction condition (S100). Theextraction condition may contain person IDs of designated users and thenumber of extractions. In the present embodiment, the user IDs of thedesignated persons are ID001 and ID002.

The intimacy degree information obtaining unit 110 then obtains intimacydegree information of the person ID001 and the person ID002 from theintimacy degree storing unit 11 (S105). The extraction period specifyingunit 115 specifies a period in which the intimacy degree between theperson ID001 and the person ID002 is high as an extraction period(S110).

The content extracting unit 120 a then obtains the person ID of a thirdparty who is common between the person ID001 and the person ID002 andhas a high intimacy degree in the specified period (S115). Then, thecontent extracting unit 120 a may extract a content in the specifiedextraction period from the common contents which are extraction sourcecontents of the person IDs of the person ID001, the person ID002 and theperson extracted as the third party from the person storing unit 13(S120).

The content extracting unit 120 a counts the number of extractedcontents and compares the number of extracted contents with thedesignated number of extractions of 10 (S125). Then, when the number ofextracted contents reaches the designated number of extractions of 10,the processing terminates.

On the other hand, when the number of extracted contents is more thanthe number of extractions, the content extracting unit 120 a decreasesthe common IDs of the third parties who have commonly high intimacydegree among the designated users (S130). For example, the contentextracting unit 120 a may decrease the common IDs by deleting the thirdparty IDs having the lowest intimacy degree among the extracted thirdparties from the common IDs.

When the number of extracted contents is less than the number ofextractions, the content extracting unit 120 a increases the common IDsof the third parties who have commonly high intimacy degree among thedesignated users (S130). For example, the content extracting unit 120 amay increase the common IDs by lowering a threshold of the intimacydegree used for extracting a third party.

The exemplary content extracting operation has been described above. Thecontent extracting unit 120 a has been described herein as extracting adesignated number of contents, but the present technique is not limitedthereto. For example, when the number of extracted contents is notdesignated as an extraction condition, all the contents extracted basedon the intimacy degree may be extracted.

2. Second Embodiment

[2-1. Structure]

A structure of a content extracting system 20 according to a secondembodiment of the present disclosure will be described below withreference to FIGS. 10 to 16. FIG. 10 is a structural diagram of thecontent extracting system according to the second embodiment of thepresent disclosure. FIG. 11 is a table showing exemplary eventinformation used in the second embodiment. FIG. 12 is a table showingexemplary event importance degree information used in the secondembodiment. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing anexemplary event importance degree calculation used in the secondembodiment. FIG. 14 shows an exemplary event importance degreeconversion table used in the second embodiment. FIG. 15 shows anotherexemplary event importance degree conversion table used in the secondembodiment. FIG. 16 shows still another event importance degreeconversion table used in the second embodiment.

The content extracting system 20 according to the present embodimentmainly includes a content extracting device 100 b, the intimacy degreestoring unit 11, the person storing unit 13, the content storing unit15, an event storing unit 17, an event importance degree storing unit19, the SNS information database 50, an event calculating unit 400 andan event importance degree calculating unit 500.

The intimacy degree storing unit 11, the person storing unit 13 and thecontent storing unit 15 have been described for the first embodiment,and an explanation thereof will be omitted herein. Though not shown, theperson information stored in the person storing unit 13 may be generatedby the image analyzing unit 300 described for the first embodiment. Theintimacy degree information stored in the intimacy degree storing unit11 may be generated by the intimacy degree calculating unit 200described for the first embodiment.

The functions of the content extracting device 100 b, the intimacydegree storing unit 11, the person storing unit 13, the content storingunit 15, the event storing unit 17, the event importance degree storingunit 19, the SNS information database 50, the event calculating unit 400and the event importance degree calculating unit 500 may be mounted onany hardware as long as information can be exchanged via a network. Aprocessing implemented by one function unit may be achieved by onehardware or may be achieved by multiple hardware in a distributedmanner.

Generation of event information and an event importance degree used forextracting a content by the content extracting device 100 b will bedescribed first. Event information generated by the event calculatingunit 400 from the content information stored in the content storing unit15 will be described first.

The event calculating unit 400 has a function of classifying contents byevent based on information on creation time/date of the contents storedin the content storing unit 15. The event calculating unit 400 mayclassify contents by using a clustering technique, for example. Theevent calculating unit 400 may extract a person contained in a contentas an event's participant. The event calculating unit 400 may store thegenerated event information in the event storing unit 17.

The event storing unit 17 may be a database using RDB (relationaldatabase), for example. Alternatively, the event storing unit 17 may bea file system. For example, FIG. 11 shows exemplary event informationstored in the event storing unit 17. The event information may includeinformation such as event ID, event start time/date and end time/date,contents included in an event, and event participants.

The event importance degree will be described below. The eventimportance degree calculating unit 500 may calculate an importancedegree for each person in an event based on the event information storedin the event storing unit 17, the intimacy degree information stored inthe intimacy degree storing unit 11 and the SNS information stored inthe SNS information database 50. The event importance degree calculatingunit 500 may store the calculated event importance degree in the eventimportance degree storing unit 19.

The event importance degree storing unit 19 may be a database using RDB,for example. Alternatively, the event importance degree storing unit 19may be a file system. FIG. 12 shows an exemplary event importance degreestored in the event importance degree storing unit 19. For example, theevent importance degree information may include event ID, eventparticipants, and event importance for participants. Herein, a largernumber of the importance degree indicates a more important event for theperson. The event importance degree information is assumed as beingstored as separate information from the event information in FIG. 12,but the event importance degree may be managed as part of the eventinformation.

An exemplary event importance degree calculation will be describedherein with reference to FIGS. 13 to 16. The event importance degreeindicates an importance degree for each person. Thus, the eventimportance degree is calculated per person. A calculation of theimportance degree of Event001 for the person ID001 will be describedherein, for example.

For example, the event importance degree calculating unit 500 may usethe event information stored in the event storing unit 17 to calculateimportance degree 1 based on at least one of the number of contentsincluded in an event, a length and a frequency. Many photographs may betaken at important events such as wedding ceremony and athleticfestival. When a content is an animation, the animation may be taken fora longer time at an important event. An important event may beconsidered as less frequent. The event importance degree calculatingunit 500 may increase the value of the importance degree 1 as the numberof contents is more, the length of a content is longer or the frequencyof an event is lower.

The event importance degree calculating unit 500 may calculateimportance degree 2 based on the event information stored in the eventstoring unit 17 and the location and time/date of the held event. Atthis time, the event importance degree calculating unit 500 may convertthe location and time/date of the held event into an importance degreewith reference to the importance degree conversion table 23. Forexample, FIGS. 14 and 15 show an exemplary importance degree conversiontable 23 used at this time. FIG. 14 shows the importance degreeconversion table 23 for converting an event time/date into an importancedegree. FIG. 15 shows the importance degree conversion table 23 forconverting an event location into an importance degree.

The event importance degree calculating unit 500 may calculateimportance degree 3 of the event based on the person information storedin the person storing unit 13. At this time, the event importance degreecalculating unit 500 may obtain an intimacy degree of the person ID001and the other participant ID002 from the person information based on theinformation on the participants of Event001. The event importance degreecalculating unit 500 may obtain information on a smile degree ofparticipants in a content included in Event001 from the personinformation. The event importance degree calculating unit 500 maycalculate importance degree 3 based on the obtained intimacy degree andsmile degree. It may be considered that the importance degree of theevent is higher as an intimacy degree between event participants ishigher or a smile degree of event participants is higher. Thus, theevent importance degree calculating unit 500 may increase the value ofthe importance degree 3 as the intimacy degree between eventparticipants is higher or the smile degree of event participants ishigher.

The event importance degree calculating unit 500 may calculateimportance degree 4 based on the participant information by using theSNS information obtained from the SNS information database 50. Forexample, when a participant has posted a text on Event001 or hascommunicated via e-mail on SNS, Event001 may be considered as animportant event for the participant. Thus, the event importance degreecalculating unit 500 may increase the value of importance degree 4 asthe participant makes more communication about Event001 within SNS.

When the user has created an album of Event001 on SNS, the eventimportance degree calculating unit 500 may calculate importance degree 5by using information on the album title. At this time, the eventimportance degree calculating unit 500 may convert a word extracted fromthe album title into an importance degree by using the importance degreeconversion table 23. FIG. 16 shows an exemplary importance degreeconversion table used herein.

The event importance degree calculating unit 500 may calculate animportance degree of the event by adding the normalized importancedegree 1 to importance degree 5. The event importance degree calculatingunit 500 may weight and add the values of the importance degree 1 toimportance degree 5.

The generation of the event information and the event importance degreeused in the present embodiment has been described above. The eventinformation generating method and the event importance degreecalculating method described herein are exemplary and the presenttechnique is not limited thereto. The event information and the eventimportance degree information may be generated by other various methods.Turning to FIG. 13 again, the structure of the content extracting system20 will be described further.

The content extracting device 100 b is an exemplary informationprocessing device having a function of extracting a content inassociation with a viewer from a plurality of contents. The extractedcontent may be an image content including a still image and animation,for example. The content extracting device 100 b may transmit theextracted content to a user terminal device, thereby providing thecontent thereto. Alternatively, the content extracting device 100 b mayupdate access restriction information on the extracted content andpublish the extracted content to the designated user thereby to providethe content so that the user may view the extracted content.

The content extracting device 100 b mainly includes the extractioncondition obtaining unit 105, the intimacy degree information obtainingunit 110, the extraction period specifying unit 115, an importancedegree obtaining unit 117, a content extracting unit 120 b and thecontent reproducing unit 125.

The extraction condition obtaining unit 105 has a function of obtaininga condition for extracting a content. The extraction condition mayinclude a person ID of a designated user, for example. The extractioncondition may include the number of extracted contents. For example, thedesignated user may be input via an operation screen. For example, theextraction condition obtaining unit 105 may display a person included ina user's content with a thumbnail image or name, and provide a selectionscreen for selecting a person. The extraction condition obtaining unit105 may assume the person ID of a person selected on the selectionscreen as a person ID of a user designated as content-viewing user. Thedesignated user may be specified by analyzing the image. For example, aperson viewing the screen on which the extracted content is beingprovided analyzes the shown image and specifies a user, and may assumethe specified user as a designated user. The extraction conditionobtaining unit 105 may supply the obtained extraction condition to theintimacy degree information obtaining unit 110.

The intimacy degree information obtaining unit 110 has a function ofobtaining intimacy degree information of the designated user based onthe person ID of the designated user included in the content extractioncondition obtained by the extraction condition obtaining unit 105. Theintimacy degree information obtaining unit 110 may supply the obtainedintimacy degree information to the extraction period specifying unit115. The intimacy degree information obtained herein may be calculatedbased on the analysis result of multiple contents as stated above. Theintimacy degree information may be calculated based on the SNSregistration information of the designated user. The intimacy degreeinformation may be calculated based on information on the SNS usagehistory of the designated user. At this time, the information on the SNSusage history may be the number of contacts made between designatedusers on SNS.

The extraction period specifying unit 115 has a function of specifyingan extraction period based on the intimacy degree information suppliedfrom the intimacy degree information obtaining unit 110. The extractionperiod specifying unit 115 may assume a period in which the intimacydegree between designated users is high as an extraction period. Theextraction period specifying unit 115 may supply the information on thespecified extraction period and the intimacy degree information suppliedfrom the intimacy degree information obtaining unit 110 to theimportance degree obtaining unit 117.

The importance degree obtaining unit 117 has a function of obtainingimportance degree information on an event held in the extraction periodspecified by the extraction period specifying unit 115. For example, inthe present embodiment, the start time/date and the end time/date of theevent information is compared with the extraction period, and thus adecision is made as to whether each event is held in the extractionperiod, thereby extracting the event. The importance degree obtainingunit 117 may extract the importance degree of the extracted event fromthe event importance degree storing unit 19. The importance degreeobtaining unit 117 may extract the event when the event-held period isincluded in the extraction period. Alternatively, the importance degreeobtaining unit 117 may extract the event when the event-held periodpartially overlaps the extraction period.

The content extracting unit 120 b has a function of extracting a contentin the extraction period specified by the extraction period specifyingunit 115. Thus, the content extracting unit 120 b may extract a contentin a period in which an intimacy degree between designated users ishigh. The content extracting unit 120 b may specify a third party whohas commonly high intimacy degree among the designated users from thesupplied intimacy degree information, and may preferentially extract acontent including the third party. With the structure, there isextracted the content which is in the period in which the intimacydegree between the designated users is high and which includes a personwho has commonly high intimacy degree among the designated users.Therefore, a content in which a content-viewer is more interested isautomatically extracted. The content extracting unit 120 b may specifyan event having a high importance degree which is common between adesignated user and a third party having a high intimacy degree with thedesignated user, based on the event importance degree informationobtained by the importance degree obtaining unit 117. The contentextracting unit 120 b may extract a content included in the eventdecided based on the importance degree. The content extracting unit 120b may extract and output the extracted content, for example.Alternatively, the content extracting unit 120 b may output a list ofextracted contents, for example.

The content reproducing unit 125 may reproduce the content extracted bythe content extracting unit 120 b based on the intimacy degreeinformation of the designated user. For example, the content reproducingunit 125 may use an effect based on the intimacy degree information ofthe designated user to reproduce the content. For example, the contentreproducing unit 125 may reproduce the content by panning or zooming theperson having a high intimacy degree. For example, when a groupphotograph is reproduced, the photograph is preferably reproduced whilebeing subjected to the effect such that the faces of a designated userand a person having a high intimacy degree with the designated user areapparently shown. The content reproducing unit 125 is described as partof the content extracting device 100 b but the present technique is notlimited thereto. For example, the content reproducing unit 125 may beseparate from the content extracting device 100 b.

The exemplary functions of the content extracting device 100 b, theevent calculating unit 400 and the event importance degree calculatingunit 500 according to the present embodiment have been described above.Each component described above may be configured with a general-purposemember or circuit and may be configured in hardware specific to thefunction of each component. The function of each component may beimplemented by reading a control program from a storage medium such asread only memory (ROM) or random access memory (RAM) which storestherein the control program describing a processing procedure of acomputing device such as central processing unit (CPU) for realizing thefunction, and interpreting and executing the program. Thus, thestructure to be utilized may be changed as necessary depending on atechnical level at which the present embodiment is to be performed.

It is possible to create a computer program for realizing the functionsof the content extracting device 100 b, the event calculating unit 400and the event importance degree calculating unit 500 according to thepresent embodiment as described above and to mount it on a personalcomputer or the like. It is further possible to provide acomputer-readable recording medium storing the computer program therein.The recording medium is a magnetic disc, optical disc, magnetoopticaldisc, flash memory or the like, for example. The computer program may bedistributed via a network, for example, not via a recording medium.

[2-2. Exemplary Content Extracting Operation]

An exemplary content extracting operation according to a secondembodiment of the present disclosure will be described below withreference to FIG. 17. FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an exemplarycontent extracting operation according to the second embodiment.

In the content extracting device 100 b, the extraction conditionobtaining unit 105 first obtains an extraction condition (S200). Theextraction condition may contain person IDs of designated users and thenumber of extractions. In the present embodiment, the user IDs of thedesignated persons are ID001 and ID002.

The intimacy degree information obtaining unit 110 then obtains intimacydegree information of the person ID001 and the person ID002 from theintimacy degree storing unit 11 (S205). The extraction period specifyingunit 115 specifies a period in which the intimacy degree between theperson ID001 and the person ID002 is high as an extraction period(S210). The importance degree obtaining unit 117 then obtains importancedegree information of an event in the specified extraction period(S212).

The content extracting unit 120 b obtains a person ID of a third partycommonly having a high intimacy degree with the person ID001 and theperson ID002 in the specified extraction period (S215). The contentextracting unit 120 b then specifies an event having a high importancedegree which is common among the person ID001, the person ID002 and thethird party (S220). The content extracting unit 120 b specifies acontent including any of the designated user or the third party from thecontents included in the specified event (S225).

The content extracting unit 120 b counts the number of extractedcontents and compares the number of extracted contents with thedesignated number of extractions of 10 (S230). Then, when the number ofextracted contents reaches 10, the processing terminates.

On the other hand, when the number of extracted contents is more thanthe number of extractions, the content extracting unit 120 b decreasesthe common IDs of the third parties who have commonly high intimacydegree among the designated users (S235). For example, the contentextracting unit 120 b may decrease the common IDs by deleting the thirdparties' IDs having the lowest intimacy degree among the extracted thirdparties from the common IDs.

When the number of extracted contents is less than the number ofextractions, the content extracting unit 120 b increase the common IDsof the third parties who have commonly high intimacy degree among thedesignated users (S240). For example, the content extracting unit 120 bmay increase the common IDs by lowering a threshold of the intimacydegree used for extracting a third party.

As described above, a content in a period in which an intimacy degreebetween designated users is high is extracted thereby to efficientlyextract a content in which the designated users are interested, therebyenhancing a satisfaction level of the user viewing the content. At thistime, a content including the third party who has commonly high intimacydegree among designated users may be preferentially extracted. With thestructure, when a user designates himself and his friend on theoperation screen, for example, a content including a friend who iscommon between the user and his designated friend and has a highintimacy degree is preferentially extracted. When the user designateshimself and his parent on the operation screen, a content including aperson who has commonly high intimacy degree between the user and hisparent, such as a family member is preferentially extracted.

A image in which a person viewing the screen on which the extractedcontent is being provided is analyzed and a user is specified, and thecontent with the specified user as a designated user may be extracted.With the structure, even when the user does not apparently designate aperson, the user viewing the screen may be automatically recognized anda content having a high importance degree for the recognized user may beextracted.

Additionally, the present technology may also be configured as below.

(1) An information processing apparatus comprising:

a processor that:obtains intimacy degree information corresponding to identificationinformation of a first person;specifies an extraction period based on the intimacy degree information;and extracts content in the extraction period.

(2) The information processing apparatus of (1), wherein the intimacydegree information indicates a degree of intimacy between the firstperson and a second person.

(3) The information processing apparatus of (1) or (2), wherein theintimacy degree information indicates a degree of intimacy between thefirst person and a second person over a predetermined period of time.

(4) The information processing apparatus of any one of (1) to (3),wherein the intimacy degree information indicates a degree of intimacybetween the first person and a second person and is calculated based onstored image data corresponding to the first person and the secondperson.

(5) The information processing apparatus of any one of (1) to (4),wherein the intimacy degree information indicates a degree of intimacybetween the first person and a second person and is calculated based ona frequency of contact between the first person and the second person.

(6) The information processing apparatus of any one of (1) to (5),wherein the intimacy degree information indicates a degree of intimacybetween the first person and a second person, and the processorspecifies the extraction period as a period during which the degreeinformation indicates that a degree of intimacy between the first personand the second person is high.

(7) The information processing apparatus of (6), wherein the processoridentifies a third person having a high degree of intimacy with thefirst person and the second person during the specified extractionperiod.

(8) The information processing apparatus of (7), wherein the processorextracts content corresponding to the first, second an third personsduring the specified extraction period.

(9) The information processing apparatus of (6) or (7), whereinprocessor identifies an event during the extraction period and obtainsimportance degree information corresponding to the event.

(10) The information processing apparatus of (9), wherein the processorextracts the content in the extraction period based on the importancedegree information corresponding to the event.

(11) The information processing apparatus of (9) or (10), wherein theprocessor identifies a third person having a high degree of intimacywith the first person and the second person during the specifiedextraction period.

(12) The information processing apparatus of (11), wherein the processorextracts the content in the extraction period corresponding to thefirst, second and third person based on the importance degreeinformation corresponding to the event.

(13) The information processing apparatus of any one of (9) to (11),wherein the importance degree information corresponding to the event iscalculated based on at least one of a date of the event, a time of theevent, a location of the event, and an analysis of content associatedwith the event.

(14) The information processing apparatus of any one of (1) to (6),wherein the intimacy degree information is calculated based on contentsand registration information in a social network service.

(15) The information processing apparatus of any one of (1) to (6), or(14), wherein the intimacy degree information is calculated based oninformation corresponding to a usage history of a social networkservice.

(16) The information processing apparatus of (15), wherein the intimacydegree information indicates a degree of intimacy between the firstperson and a second person and the information corresponding to a usagehistory of a social network service indicates a frequency of contactbetween the first person and the second person.

(17) The information processing apparatus of any one of (1) to (6), (14)or (15), wherein the processor obtains captured image data andidentifies the first person based on the obtained captured image data.

(18) An information processing method performed by an informationprocessing apparatus, the method comprising:

obtaining, by a processor of the information processing apparatus,intimacy degree information corresponding to identification informationof a person;specifying, by the processor, an extraction period based on the intimacydegree information; and extracting, by the processor, content in theextraction period.

(19) A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computerprogram code, which when executed by an information processingapparatus, causes the information processing apparatus to perform amethod comprising:

obtaining intimacy degree information corresponding to identificationinformation of a person;specifying an extraction period based on the intimacy degreeinformation; and extracting content in the extraction period.

Furthermore, the present technology may also be configured as below.

(1) An information processing apparatus comprising: a processor that:obtains intimacy degree information corresponding to identificationinformation of a first person; specifies an extraction period based onthe intimacy degree information; and extracts content in the extractionperiod.

(2) The information processing apparatus of (1), wherein the intimacydegree information indicates a degree of intimacy between the firstperson and a second person.

(3) The information processing apparatus of (1) or (2), wherein theintimacy degree information indicates a degree of intimacy between thefirst person and a second person over a predetermined period of time.

(4) The information processing apparatus of any one of (1) to (3),wherein the intimacy degree information indicates a degree of intimacybetween the first person and a second person and is calculated based onstored image data corresponding to the first person and the secondperson.

(5) The information processing apparatus of any one of (1) to (4),wherein the intimacy degree information indicates a degree of intimacybetween the first person and a second person and is calculated based ona frequency of contact between the first person and the second person.

(6) The information processing apparatus of any one of (1) to (5),wherein the intimacy degree information indicates a degree of intimacybetween the first person and a second person, and the processorspecifies the extraction period as a period during which the degreeinformation indicates that a degree of intimacy between the first personand the second person is high.

(7) The information processing apparatus of (6), wherein the processoridentifies a third person having a high degree of intimacy with thefirst person and the second person during the specified extractionperiod.

(8) The information processing apparatus of (7), wherein the processorextracts content corresponding to the first, second an third personsduring the specified extraction period.

(9) The information processing apparatus of any one of (6) to (8),wherein processor identifies an event during the extraction period andobtains importance degree information corresponding to the event.

(10) The information processing apparatus of (9), wherein the processorextracts the content in the extraction period based on the importancedegree information corresponding to the event.

(11) The information processing apparatus of (9) or (10), wherein theprocessor identifies a third person having a high degree of intimacywith the first person and the second person during the specifiedextraction period.

(12) The information processing apparatus of (11), wherein the processorextracts the content in the extraction period corresponding to thefirst, second and third person based on the importance degreeinformation corresponding to the event.

(13) The information processing apparatus of any one of (9) to (12),wherein the importance degree information corresponding to the event iscalculated based on at least one of a date of the event, a time of theevent, a location of the event, and an analysis of content associatedwith the event.

(14) The information processing apparatus of any one of (1) to (13),wherein the intimacy degree information is calculated based on contentsand registration information in a social network service.

(15) The information processing apparatus of any one of (1) to (14),wherein the intimacy degree information is calculated based oninformation corresponding to a usage history of a social networkservice.

(16) The information processing apparatus of claim (15), wherein theintimacy degree information indicates a degree of intimacy between thefirst person and a second person and the information corresponding to ausage history of a social network service indicates a frequency ofcontact between the first person and the second person.

(17) The information processing apparatus of any one of (1) to (15),wherein the processor obtains captured image data and identifies thefirst person based on the obtained captured image data.

(18) An information processing method performed by an informationprocessing apparatus, the method comprising: obtaining, by a processorof the information processing apparatus, intimacy degree informationcorresponding to identification information of a person; specifying, bythe processor, an extraction period based on the intimacy degreeinformation; and extracting, by the processor, content in the extractionperiod.

(19) A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computerprogram code, which when executed by an information processingapparatus, causes the information processing apparatus to perform amethod comprising: obtaining intimacy degree information correspondingto identification information of a person; specifying an extractionperiod based on the intimacy degree information; and extracting contentin the extraction period.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

In the present specification, the steps described in the flowchartinclude the processing time-sequentially performed in the describedorder and the processings performed in parallel or individually thoughnot being time-sequentially processed. The time-sequentially processedsteps may change the order as necessary, of course. The presentdisclosure contains subject matter related to that disclosed in JapanesePriority Patent Application JP 2011-131129 filed in the Japan PatentOffice on Jun. 13, 2011, the entire content of which is herebyincorporated by reference.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing system comprising:circuitry configured to obtain intimacy degree information indicating adegree of intimacy between a first person and a second person, whereinthe intimacy degree information indicates a degree of intimacy betweenthe first person and a second person over a period of time and isdetermined based on at least one image including the first person andthe second person.
 2. The information processing system of claim 1,wherein the circuitry is configured to update the intimacy degreeinformation based on an operation corresponding to at least one of thefirst person and the second person.
 3. The information processing systemof claim 1, wherein the intimacy degree information is calculated basedon a plurality of stored images including the first person and thesecond person.
 4. The information processing system of claim 1, whereinthe circuitry is configured to specify an extraction period based on theintimacy degree information.
 5. The information processing system ofclaim 4, wherein the circuitry is configured to extract content in theextraction period.
 6. The information processing system of claim 4,wherein the circuitry is configured to specify the extraction period asa period during which the intimacy degree information indicates that adegree of intimacy between the first person and the second person ishigh.
 7. The information processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein thecircuitry is configured to identify a third person having a high degreeof intimacy with the first person and the second person.
 8. Theinformation processing system of claim 7, wherein the circuitry isconfigured to: specify an extraction period based on the intimacy degreeinformation; and extract content corresponding to at least one of thefirst, second and third persons during the specified extraction period.9. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein the circuitryis configured to: identify an event corresponding the first person andthe second person; and obtain importance degree informationcorresponding to the event.
 10. The information processing system ofclaim 9, wherein the circuitry is configured to extract contentcorresponding to at least one of the first person and the second personbased on the importance degree information corresponding to the event.11. The information processing system of claim 9, wherein the circuitryis configured to identify a third person having a high degree ofintimacy with the first person and the second person.
 12. Theinformation processing system of claim 11, wherein the circuitry isconfigured to extract content corresponding to at least one of thefirst, second and third person based on the importance degreeinformation corresponding to the event.
 13. The information processingsystem of claim 9, wherein the importance degree informationcorresponding to the event is calculated based on at least one of a dateof the event, a time of the event, a location of the event, and ananalysis of content associated with the event.
 14. The informationprocessing system of claim 1, wherein the intimacy degree information iscalculated based on contents and registration information in a socialmedia service.
 15. The information processing system of claim 1, whereinthe intimacy degree information is calculated based on informationcorresponding to a usage history of a social media service.
 16. Theinformation processing system of claim 15, wherein the intimacy degreeinformation indicates a degree of intimacy between the first person andthe second person and the information corresponding to a usage historyof a social media service indicates a frequency of contact between thefirst person and the second person.
 17. The information processingapparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to: obtaincaptured image data; and identify the first person based on the obtainedcaptured image data.
 18. An information processing method performed byan information processing apparatus, the method comprising: obtaining,by circuitry of the information processing apparatus, intimacy degreeinformation indicating a degree of intimacy between a first person and asecond person, wherein the intimacy degree information indicates adegree of intimacy between the first person and a second person over aperiod of time and is determined based on at least one image includingthe first person and the second person.
 19. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium including computer program code, which whenexecuted by an information processing apparatus, causes the informationprocessing apparatus to: obtain intimacy degree information indicating adegree of intimacy between a first person and a second person, whereinthe intimacy degree information indicates a degree of intimacy betweenthe first person and a second person over a period of time and isdetermined based on at least one image including the first person andthe second person.